Ambode earmarks N1bn for schools’ renovation, vows to resolve LASU crisis

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State, on Friday, said his administration has earmarked over N1 billion for renovation and supply of furniture and education materials across all secondary schools in the state.
The governor, who reiterated the determination of his administration to invest massively in educational sector, said 1,300 teachers from thousands of persons who applied last month will soon be employed to teach in the primary schools in the state.
Ambode, who spoke in Ilara-Epe while inaugurating Augustine University, a private university owned by the Catholic Church, also assured of plans of his administration to resolve the lingering crisis in the Lagos State University (LASU).
He said the need to resolve the crisis in the institution prompted the inauguration of new Governing Councils for the institution and other tertiary institutions in the state.
Appreciating the Catholic Church for the project, Ambode said the best way to prepare for change whether positive or negative is to anticipate and manage it.
“From my exposures, I have come to the conclusion that there is no greater form of preparation to manage change than through education”.
“There is no greater investment that the individual parent can make than investment in education of highest possible quality”, he said.
The governor said that considering the population of Lagos State which is about 20 million, 60 percent of which are people below 35, the state is seriously in need of institutions of learning, adding that the establishment of Augustine University, which brings the number of privately owned universities in the state to four and six universities in all, was a welcome development.
Earlier, in his pre-inaugural briefing, Archbishop of Lagos Catholic Archdiocese, His Eminence Adewale Martins, said the idea to establish the university was muted seven years ago with the laudable goal of taking Catholic education to the next level in Nigeria.
He thanked the Lagos State Government for providing the institution with necessary documents needed for the approval of licence by the National Universities Commission (NUC).
The Augustine University sits on a massive 135 hectares of land in Ilara-Epe.
The foundation of the institution was laid on October 27, 2009 and the operational licence was granted by the NUC on May 27, 2015.
The University is starting with 13 programmes to be run by two faculties.